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An 18-month Senate HELP Committee investigation led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, reviewing 7 years of data and interviewing 130+ workers, found Amazon warehouse workers suffered 6.6 serious injuries per 100 workers — more than double the 3.2 rate at non-Amazon warehouses. Internal 'Project Soteria' studies found speed caused injuries, but Amazon chose not to implement recommendations to protect its bottom line. OSHA cited Amazon at multiple facilities for ergonomic hazards and inadequate medical care. Amazon settled with OSHA in December 2024 for $145,000 and agreed to corporate-wide ergonomic measures.

On December 16, 2024, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son appeared with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago to announce a $100 billion US investment pledge over Trump's term, promising 100,000 AI and infrastructure jobs. This doubled Son's 2016 pledge of $50 billion and 50,000 jobs made after Trump's first election - commitments where the money was eventually spent but it remains unclear whether the jobs were created. Analysts described this as 'SoftBank's version of an inaugural donation, in pursuit of a lighter regulatory touch for the firm and its portfolio companies' including its stake in TikTok parent ByteDance. SoftBank spent $2.68 million on US lobbying in 2024.

McKinsey agreed to pay $650 million to resolve federal criminal and civil investigations into its consulting work advising Purdue Pharma on strategies to turbocharge OxyContin sales between 2004-2019. The firm advised on targeting high-volume prescribers and communities already hard-hit by opioids, and recommended cash prizes to boost sales. This marked the first time a management consulting firm was held criminally responsible for advice resulting in client crime. McKinsey also paid $573M to 47 states in a separate 2021 settlement.

In December 2024, Sony disclosed that its audit of Kawaguchi Manufacturing, a Malaysian supplier of plastic components, found violations of Sony's supply chain code of conduct. The violations involved 251 Bangladeshi workers who were denied pay for seven months. Sony stated it implemented remedial measures in collaboration with the Responsible Business Alliance.

On December 12, 2024, Sundar Pichai and Google co-founder Sergey Brin dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. This marked 'a noteworthy departure from Google's approach to the first Trump administration' - in 2017, Pichai and Brin had joined protests against Trump's immigration policies. Pichai later attended Trump's inauguration in the front row.

Amazon donated $1 million to Trump's 2025 presidential inauguration fund. Additionally, Amazon provided an in-kind donation by streaming the inauguration ceremony on Prime Video, valued at approximately $1 million.

In November 2024, Zuckerberg met with Trump at a Mar-a-Lago dinner where he demonstrated Meta's Ray-Ban Smart Glasses and gifted a pair to Trump. In December 2024, Meta donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee. The dinner and donation preceded a series of policy shifts at Meta aligning with Trump administration preferences, including ending fact-checking and rolling back DEI programs. This marked a sharp political realignment for Zuckerberg, who had previously been more associated with Democratic causes.

Sweden's Financial Supervisory Authority fined Klarna $50 million for violations of anti-money laundering regulations between April 2021 and March 2022. The investigation found Klarna had not followed requirements on general risk assessment and procedures for due diligence measures.

Since Trump's November 2024 election, Marc Andreessen has been spending approximately half his time at Mar-a-Lago as an unpaid adviser, helping shape tech, business, and economic policy. He confirmed involvement in recruiting talent for Elon Musk's DOGE initiative and vetting administration candidates.

Meta announced it would donate $1 million to Donald Trump's 2025 presidential inauguration fund. The donation came as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought to improve relations with the incoming administration after years of tension over content moderation decisions.

On December 10, 2024, General Motors announced it would stop funding Cruise's robotaxi development, citing the competitive market, capital allocation priorities, and resources required. GM had invested over $10 billion in Cruise since acquiring a controlling stake in 2016 for $581 million. About 1,000 positions (roughly half the workforce) were eliminated in February 2025. GM pivoted to personal vehicle autonomous driving features instead.

Dutch investigation by Nieuwsuur uncovered that ASML sold parts to a subsidiary of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), a state-owned company supplying technology to the Chinese military. Also sold a DUV lithography machine to Shenzhen International Quantum Academy, which conducts research with potential military uses. ASML said the equipment was 'old technology that can't be used to produce state-of-the-art chips.'

Thousands of child sexual abuse material victims filed lawsuit against Apple for dropping its announced CSAM detection plans. Plaintiffs argue Apple's reversal forces victims to repeatedly relive trauma as their images continue circulating on Apple platforms.

In December 2024, Apple announced plans to launch an online store in Saudi Arabia in summer 2025 and open flagship retail stores starting 2026, including an 'iconic' store in Diriyah. Apple disclosed spending over $2.66 billion with Saudi suppliers over five years. The expansion proceeds despite Saudi Arabia's documented record of censorship, surveillance, and human rights abuses.

In December 2024, India's Central Consumer Protection Authority fined Zepto ₹7 lakh for deploying dark patterns. The CCPA found Zepto's checkout-stage pricing caused consumers to pay more than MRP through hidden packaging charges. Zepto also added paid Zepto Pass membership to carts by default without explicit consent (basket sneaking) and used 'confirm shaming' by displaying 'No, I don't want to save' when users declined. CEO Aadit Palicha acknowledged the mistake publicly.

In December 2024, Trump announced David Sacks as his 'White House AI & Crypto Czar,' tasked with developing a legal framework for cryptocurrency and shaping AI policy. The appointment raised conflict of interest concerns given Sacks' extensive investments in AI and crypto companies through Craft Ventures.

In December 2024, President Trump appointed Craft Ventures co-founder David Sacks as White House AI and Crypto Czar as a special government employee, allowing him to continue working at Craft Ventures. A November 2025 NYT investigation found Sacks held 449 AI company investments that could benefit from his policy decisions. Ethics experts called his broad waivers 'sham ethics waivers' lacking rigorous analysis. Craft Ventures invested in BitGo, a crypto company that benefited from the GENIUS Act stablecoin regulation Sacks backed. He also played a role in removing Nvidia chip export restrictions while having grown close to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Senator Elizabeth Warren launched an ethics investigation in September 2025.

In December 2024, Anduril announced a partnership with OpenAI to develop military artificial intelligence systems for the US Pentagon, focused on defending against weaponized drone attacks. OpenAI will provide GPT-4o and o1 models integrated with Anduril's Lattice defense software platform. The partnership raised ethical concerns among OpenAI employees about AI technology being applied to military use. This marked a significant step in the militarization of frontier AI models.

In December 2024, over 140 content moderators working for Meta through contractor Samasource Kenya were diagnosed with severe PTSD by Dr. Ian Kanyanya at Kenyatta National Hospital. Moderators reported reviewing extreme content including child sexual abuse, torture, murder, and bestiality with only ~1 minute per piece, under close monitoring with threat of termination. Workers reported self-harm, vomiting, and severe psychological symptoms. Meta outsources content moderation to contractors in developing countries including Kenya and Ghana. A second wave of lawsuits emerged from Ghana moderators in April 2025.

Coinbase donated $1M to Trump's 2025 inauguration fund (December 2024) and over $75M to Fairshake PAC for pro-crypto candidates. CEO Brian Armstrong met with Trump twice after the election. The SEC dismissed its lawsuit against Coinbase one month after SEC chair Gensler resigned.

Zepto faced controversy for allegedly charging iPhone users significantly higher prices than Android users for identical products, with reports showing Capsicum costing ₹21 on Android vs ₹107 on iPhone (5x difference). This practice, called dynamic pricing based on perceived purchasing power, assumes iPhone users have higher disposable incomes. A Reddit post from an alleged former employee claimed the app charges more for customers with phones worth more than ₹30,000.

Hinton criticized OpenAI for shifting from its founding mission of safe AGI development to prioritizing profits under Sam Altman's leadership. Expressed support for the brief firing of Altman by the board.

Intuit donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration committee in December 2024. The company stated the donation was 'part of our decades-long commitment to bipartisan advocacy.' One month later, the Trump administration announced plans to eliminate the IRS Direct File program that Intuit had lobbied against for 20+ years.

A peer-reviewed study led by Swiss Re, published covering over 3.8 million autonomous miles, found that Waymo vehicles reduced property damage insurance claims by 76% and completely eliminated bodily injury claims compared to human drivers. Waymo estimated injury-causing crashes were 80% less frequent, pedestrian injuries 92% less common, and cyclist injuries 78% less common than typical human drivers. An independent analysis of 38 serious crashes (July 2024-February 2025) found only 1 was clearly Waymo's fault.

Harper's Magazine investigation by Liz Pelly revealed Spotify's internal 'Perfect Fit Content' program since 2017, where ~20 songwriters behind 500+ fake 'artists' were seeded onto playlists to reduce royalty costs. Musicians paid one-time fees (~$1,700/track) while signing away rights. Internal Slack messages showed teams tracking PFC growth. Playlists like 'Deep Focus' and 'Ambient Relaxation' were almost entirely PFC. Editors who resisted were replaced.

In late 2024, YouTube rewrote its moderation policy to allow videos with up to 50% violating content to remain online (up from 25%), prioritizing 'freedom of expression' over enforcement. Moderators instructed to leave up videos on elections, race, gender, abortion even if half violates rules against hate speech or misinformation. Changes disclosed publicly in June 2025 via NYT report.

In December 2024, Alex Karp wrote a $1 million check to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, marking a dramatic shift from his previous support of Biden and Harris. This followed his 'political metamorphosis' catalyzed by the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel. Karp cited Democratic positions on immigration, Iran, and antisemitism as reasons for his shift.

In December 2024, Alex Karp donated $1 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Donald Trump. This was his largest disclosed political gift by an order of magnitude, coming alongside his $1M inaugural donation. The donation represented a complete reversal from his August 2024 statement that he was 'voting against Trump.'

Uber launched industry-first women rider preference feature on November 29, 2024 in India, expanded to six US cities (Baltimore, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, Washington DC) on October 17, 2025. Feature gives women drivers option to receive trip requests exclusively from women riders, especially helpful during late hours. Used on more than 150 million trips globally, with quarter of women drivers turning it on at least once a week and more than half keeping it on for over 90% of their trips. Feature enables over 21,000 trips in India alone. Aims to improve safety and comfort for both female drivers and riders.

Through DAIR Institute and public advocacy, Gebru has argued that smaller, purpose-built AI models trained for specific tasks or communities are more effective and less harmful than massive general-purpose language models. She highlighted how smaller translation models trained on specific languages outperform giant models that do a poor job with non-dominant languages, calling for AI development that centers marginalized communities.